The Rockstar Ramblings: Glam Band Album Names

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posted Oct 30, 2009 at 6:53 AM by Rockstar_Scribbler. (8 Comments)

Band Photo: Guns N Roses

This week Ratt finally released the name of their upcoming album. The title is Infestation and not Caught Cheating as I had guessed. All said and done I probably had a 50/50 chance…Vince Neil will soon be announcing the name of his upcoming solo album. The world waits on the edge of their seats…

All of the album talk got me in the mood for a breakdown of album titles from the eighties and of course placing them into categories: Sex Sells, Hard Hats, We Are Heavy Metal, We Are Evil, and There Is Still Coke Left, Let the Fans Figure Out The Meaning…

SEX SELLS: Using sexual innuendo and tongue in cheek phrases goes back to the sixties, but was perfected in the eighties. Warrant’s blatant use of Cherry Pie fits as does KISS’s Lick It Up and Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet. It’s David Lee Roth’s Eat’em and Smile and Poison’s Open Up and Say Ahh! take the cake in this one…

HARD HATS: For the hard rock acts that want people to know their music is for the people, more John Cougar like. Some bands had the titles, for example, Skid Row’s Slave To The Grind suggests a band that worked very hard; however, as hard as they worked I doubt it warrants the title used. Bon Jovi’s New Jersey is probably the closest we come to a true hard hat attempt (although even this is weak). Bon Jovi has spent their careers trying to be The E Street Band. After many years, and many albums, they are still not The E Street Band.

WE ARE HEAVY METAL: This is quite simply where AC/DC thrives. Album titles T.N.T., Back In Black, and Thunderstruck are a sample of titles meant to convey a message. I believe the message is: “We’re going to fuck your shit up!” Other honorable mentions are Def Lepard for Pyromania, Buckcherry’s Time Bomb, and Guns N Roses Appetite For Destruction.

WE ARE EVIL: Similar to the previous, but darker. Here we have Motley Crue’s Shout at The Devil, Ratt’s Out of The Cellar, and Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar. However, if I have to pick one it will always be Ozzy Osbourne’s Diary of a Madman.

THERE IS STILL COKE LEFT, LET THE FANS FIGURE OUT THE MEANING: Pretty self explanatory. Some of my favorites in this category are David Lee Roth’s Crazy From The Heat, Guns N Roses The Spaghetti Incident?, Ozzy’s Blizzard of Ozz (why the second Z?), and Motley Crue’s Theatre of Pain which contains the painless songs “Smoking In The Boys Room” and “Home Sweet Home”

David S. Grant is the author of books Corporate Porn, Bleach|Blackout, Hollywood Ending, Emotionless Souls, and The Last Breakfast. His new book, Rock Stars: The rise, fall, and rise of glam frontmen into pop culture, will be available in November 2009. For more information please go to http://www.davidsgrant.com.

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8 Comments on "The Rockstar Ramblings: Glam Band Album Names"

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1. Somebody writes:

There's no AC/DC album called Thunderstruck. The song is on the album The Razors Edge.

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 8:06 AM ET | IP Logged

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2. Jamez writes:

I think "The Razor´s Edge" pretty much drives the same meaning.
Some of the most interesting album titles - in my opinion - are Anthrax´s "Fistful of Metal" and NIN´s "The Downward Spiral".

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 8:13 AM ET | IP Logged

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3. Zukros writes:

I'd say you missed out the most important one for 'sex sells' ... WASP's 'Animal: f*** like a beast'. but other than that, nice article there. :)

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 8:34 AM ET | IP Logged

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4. Jamez writes:

Good point, Zukros. That´s got to be one of the most obsene album titles out there, if not the most (probably not though... Im not an expert in death / black metal)

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 8:54 AM ET | IP Logged

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5. Zukros writes:

there are probably worse ones, but that's the worst glam one I know. unless cannibal corpse counts as glam.

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 9:59 AM ET | IP Logged

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6. n0thinghead writes:

kudos to zukros for that ::gulf clap:: and i agree with u jamez on the NIN one. i'm a HUGE NIN fan and i love almost all of their album titles, pretty hate machine, downward spiral, with teeth, year zero, r all pretty interesting album titles imo

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 9:59 AM ET | IP Logged

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7. Jamez writes:

Yeah, NIN´s got some good titles.
Speaking of industrial bands, I love KMFDM´s album titles; Xtort, Angst, Attak, WWIII etc.

Overall the best album titles are of course by The Cramps; Smell of Female, Stay Sick, Look Mom No Head!, Fiends of Dope Island etc etc

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 11:30 AM ET | IP Logged

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8. Zukros writes:

Yeah, those are probably the best series of titles. I'd have to say my favourite has to be Pink Bubbles Go Ape, tho. Helloween rule.

# Oct 30, 2009 @ 4:35 PM ET | IP Logged

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